Can this e-commerce startup challenge Amazon in Chicago?

Want to learn how to fly a drone in Millennium Park? Now you can, with Enjoy, an online tech retailer that is expanding to Chicago next week.

Enjoy, based in Menlo Park, Calif., delivers products to you in less than four hours from purchase to any location in its delivery network—whether that's a coffee shop, an office or a park—then will teach you how to use it.

Beginning May 11, Chicagoans can get deliveries in areas from the South Loop up to Highland Park, and the company has plans to add more ZIP codes in the future.

"I really believe people in Chicago will love this service," said CEO Ron Johnson. "Just pick your time and place, and we'll show up with a trained person to help you get started with your new products."

Johnson, 57, who was an executive at Apple for 12 years and then held a stint as CEO at J.C. Penney for 17 months, has been in retail for more than 30 years. He said he came up with Enjoy's concept when thinking about how to enhance customer service in the tech and retail industries.

Enjoy is competing with other tech retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and Apple, which also offer speedy delivery and good customer service options. But Johnson says Enjoy's instructional service option at no extra cost will set it apart. Best Buy offers Geek Squad, its in-house service that installs, sets up and teaches customers how to use products, but consumers have to pay more for that.

Enjoy operates in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and has plans to add markets later in the year. It employs about 160 people across its markets and offers more than 150 products ranging from the latest Apple device to Sonos speakers and drones. Customers can book a delivery from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. "We bring the store to you," Johnson said.

With help from investors in Silicon Valley, Enjoy raised more than $80 million to start. Johnson would not disclose 2015 revenue but said they are delivering 10 times the volume now as they were a year ago when they were established.

"We're off to a good start," he said. "We've got the capital to grow and build a great business."

IS IT SUSTAINABLE?

Enjoy's rivals offer rapid same-day delivery (Amazon) and intensive instructional services (Best Buy). Enjoy's pitch is that it has managed to bundle them into one, creating a unique segment of the market that could attract certain consumers, said Julie Hennessy, a clinical professor of marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. She said older users and those who want the most bang for their buck will be attracted to Enjoy's model.

"Consumers would like everything you can give them," Hennessy said. "The limits on delivering what consumers would like are: Can you do it in a financially viable way? And can you do it in a way that you can do better than competitors?"

Johnson says he can afford to operate Enjoy's business model in this way because the company is not burdened with paying for brick-and-mortar locations. Rather than paying for rent, inventory and store associates, Enjoy invests its money in trained tech specialists who also deliver the products.

"The Enjoy business model works because we can deliver an amazing person at a lower cost than a store can execute its business," Johnson said. "We earn the same margin a physical store does, but have reimagined how to deploy that opportunity to serve customers in a very forward and fresh manner."